Side Degrees.

SIDE DEGREES .

WHAT are Side Degrees ? I suppose they may fairly be defined as degrees under no government , which may bo conferred by one M ' astor Mason on another . In this sense a number of degrees now well known , and belonging to recognised Grand bodies , were once side degrees . The Holy Royal Arch used to be conferred by

blue Lodges the same is true of the Templar degree . Tho ' Select Master " was a side degree in the beginning of this century , and rituals of it and of tho "Superoxcollent" are in existence , where there is no mention of any governing body in tho 0 . B . Some of these rituals

date back to 1809 . As soon as side degrees are organised they cease to bo side degrees , and the right to confer them is taken away from the individual Mason . Thus though tho Select Master was once a side degree , no ouo Select Master has a right to confer the degree on a brother

Mason , because the degree has been organised either under a council or Royal Arch Chapter . Masonic law is clear on this point . The body that first organises unappropriated degroos is the sole possessor of these degroos . Unless it surrenders its rights to some other authority , no other

Masonic body can infringe these rights . There are in this country now practically no side degrees . They have been collected and appropriated by tho Sovoroign College of Alliod Masonic aud Christian degrees for America . This body possesses the finost collection of tho side degree

rituals in the world . Its object is to spread abroad those degrees which aro worthy of working , either because of the beauty of their rituals , or because they are recognised in other countries as belonging to legitimate Masonry . At

the same time , by organising those degrees that , are not worth working , it practically lays them on the shelf , and declares to the Masonic world that they are not true Masonry .

Perhaps one of the commonest and best know of the socalled side degrees in America is the Secret Monitor . It is essentially American . Where on this continent it was first

propagated it is hard to say . The Sovorcign College has rituals of it over forty years old . It is an excellent degree , with a beautiful lesson ; but hitherto ifc has been utterly neglected in tho land of its birth . In England it has been

revived and developed into an Order . Some twenty years ago Brother Issachar Zacharie , who had been in the Noethern army during tho war , and thero

received the Secret Monitor degree , in company with two other brethren who had been made Secret Monitors iu America , organised in London the ' -Grand Council of Secret Monitors for Cicat Britain aud

Ireland , and the Colonies and Dependencies of tie British Crown . " Tho " Order , " as it is called , has been quite popular in England , and is spreading rapidly . Dr . Zacharic added two degrees—wo believe invented by himself—to the original American one . His Grand Council has exchanged rituals with tho Sovereign College iu the " Monitor" degree , which is the second on tho Regi-ster .

The degrco of " Ark and Dove" came to this country from England . The first mention of it we can find is in an old account dated 1819 . In that year a certain Brother Samuel Jameson is certified to have received , on tho 7 th day of July , at Dundalk , Ireland , amoDgst other degrees ,

that of Ark Mason , Probably about the year 1820 tho " Ark " came to America . We have two rituals of it , one about forty , another about sixty years old . In England the degree is known as the Royal Ark Mariuer , and is practically governed by the Grand Mark

Lodge . The Ark aud Dove is a fine degree , and all the brethren who havo received it in Richmond have expressed themselves delighted with it . Every Mark Master who is likely to travel ought to hare it , as ifc corresponds to the English Royal Ark Mariner , and will fit him for visiting the Lodges of that degree .

S . Lawrence the Martyr is essentially an English degree , Traces of it are to be found in America , but the only rituals known are of English origin . Ifc is very interesting , and teaches lessons of great importance . The ' Knights of Constantinople " is also of American

origin , and is one of tbe most admirable degrees in Masonry . It is also a striking illustation of tbe danger which besets the Order from the existence of degrees which are under no governing body . At certain gatherings of Masons it has been customary to go through a piece of buffoonery called ( i the Kni ght of Constantine , " a burlesque

Side Degrees.

which is almost a blasphemy , inasmuch aa tho degree so burlesqued ia one of tho most solemn of Christian degie * - - , teaching the sublimest lessons . Had tho " Knights of Constantinople " been organized as the " Royal Arch " is , it would have almost been a Masonic offence to treat it aa

it has been treated . Tho original ritual in the aohives of tbe Sovereign College is over forty years old . Amongst the degrees collected by the College , but not worked , are the Mediterranean Pass , the Babylonish Pass , Chief Priest , Knight of the Virgin Mary , Knight of Rome ,

Knight of Three Kings , Knight of the Round Tablo , Knight of the Holy Cross , Mark Man , & c . The College also has on its register the following adoptive degrees , of which it

possesses rituals : —Mason ' s Daughter , Good Samaritan , Martha and Mary , daughtera of Zelophabad , and heroine of Jericho . As these are not Masonic , the rituals aro merely kopt as interesting curiosities .

A word as to a degree which is known as the " Grand Tilers of Solomon , " akin in some respects to that of Select Master , which is itself derived from tho sixth degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite . Tbe College possesses two rituals of this degree—one dating

1812 , the other about 1850 . The "Grand Tilers " is worked in Richmond , as it is of considerable merit , and the College has had the honour of conferring ifc on tbe chief officers of tbe Grand Council of Allied Masonic Degrees in England , who have the sole authority to propagate ifc in the British dominions .

Of the degrees above mentioned , three at loast ought to be possessed by every well-equipped Mason—the Ark aud Dove , tho Secret Monitor , and the Knights of Consfcinfcinople . Without these degrees in England , fcho doors of

all Ark Mariuer Lodges , Secret Monitor Conclaves , and Councils of the Allied Degreos are closed against him ; with them he will be received by those bodies with brotherly welcome . —The Bough Ashlar .

Among tho artistes at the Royal iAquarinm is Mr . Muokny , who is a whistler of operatic and popular music of suoh excel ' Quce t i . t he is nightly encored .

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